Hello All;
I recently purchased a 1998 XK8, and I'm trying to work out some bugs.When driving with the rpm around 1700-2000,she sometimes hesitates and makes a ''clattering'' noise from under the hood. It doesn't do it all the time. If I step down harder on the accelerator it stops. Also when after this happens, the "low coolant" light comes on, then goes off. As an aside, when the car came off the truck Friday night, the headlights were working. I drove it to the station and put some premium down her pipe and the lights were fine. Today, I went to put on the lights and they didn't work. If I ''flashed'' the bright lights by pulling the lever back, they worked. I'll try again when it gets dark. Oh well, more things to work out. I enjoy sleuthing these
things. It makes you appreciate the car more as you do the little
repairs. Plus I get to interact with my peers while solving (with
their help) the problems.
Thank you again for your input.
Fred

 

I'm glad to see that you like chasing these sorts of things down - many people don't like the challenge.

I've had a 2000 XK8 with 48,000 miles for about 6 months. My experience is that for most cars (foreign and domestic) in that age range 90% of the electrical troubles come from bad connections or bad grounds. I used to get all excited about "problems", now I don't.

For example, my Jag freaked out last week and spit a bunch of codes and went into "Limp" mode all from a loose throttle body connnector. What looked to be a major problem was, in fact, solved with some contact cleaner and dialectric grease.

(I'm going to take some time to clean and freshen all the connectors I can find which will hopefully preclude some of the oddball things oike lights not working, etc.)

The other thing I've found is that CAN-BUS equipped cars like ours can mislead you easily due to the nature of the way they transmit and store data. Clearing out the system by disconnecting the battery for 5 or 10 minutes (and touching the + and - cables together afterword, some say) has helped me with things like non-locking doors and seat memory troubles.

Finally, all the relays are getting tired - look to them as a likely culprit as well. Learn where they are (all over and in inconvenient spots, too) and how to swap them with the spares you bought.

Good Luck!

 

Thank you Scott for your reply. I've decided to let her set till June, then I'm getting the chain tensioners done, just to be safe. Then I'll start sleuthing around to play with the rest. I'm used to this after having an 89 XJS Convert. But after the second "dropped" valve, I decided to change my luck.
Thanks again
Fred